John 8:32

Third Epistle of John

The
New Testament Third Epistle of John (often referred to
as 3 John), written in the form of an Epistle, is the
64th book of the Bible. 3 John--the second-shortest book
of the Christian Bible by number of verses and shortest
in regard to number of words (according to the KJV)--is
written by a man identified only as "the presbyteros".
While the letter is addressed to Gaius (Caius), scholars
are uncertain if this Caius is the Christian Caius in
Macedonia (Acts 19:29), the Caius in Corinth (Romans
16:23) or the Caius in Derbe (Acts 20:4) is the intended
recipient. Indications within the letter suggest a
genuine private letter, written to commend to Gaius a
party of Christians led by Demetrius, who were strangers
to the place where he lived, and who had gone on a
mission to preach the gospel (verse 7). The purpose of
the letter is to encourage and strengthen Caius, and to
warn him against the party headed by Diotrephes, who
refuses to cooperate with the presbyteros who is
writing.

Edgar Goodspeed saw this and 2 John as cover letters for
1 John, as the only likely reason for their
preservation. The language of this epistle is remarkably
similar to 2 John, and it is the scholarly consensus
that the same man wrote both of these letters, although
it has been debated whether or not this man also wrote
the Gospel of John, 1 John, or Revelation, and the
Authorship of the Johannine works is generally agreed by
modern scholars to have been by multiple people (all
known as John) rather than just one. Even in ancient
times it was argued that this John the Presbyter was
different to the John who wrote 1 John, and this was
affirmed by an official church ruling at the Council of
Rome, where it was ordered that the author of 1 John
should be known as John the Evangelist while the author
of 2&3 John should be known as John the Presbyter.

The earliest possible attestations for 3 John come from
Tertullian and Origen. Tertullian, "On Monogamy" ch.vi
quotes a brief phrase—"follow the better things"— from 3
John i.11 "Beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but
that which is good", a phrase that might also have been
adapted from the Septuagint Psalm xxxvi. 27 (xxxvii in
the Hebrew Bible) or from the First Epistle of Peter
iii.11 [1]. Origen's Commentary on Matthew book xi says
"But many things might be said about the Word Himself
who became flesh", which has been offered as a parallel
showing the use of logos in 3 John i.7. [2]. Irenaeus in
Adversus Haereses iii. 16. 7 (written ca. 175), quotes 2
John. 7 and 8, and in the next sentence I John 4:1, 2,
as from "the Letter of John."; he does not quote from 3
John. The Muratorian Canon accepts two letters of John
only.
The Epistle of Third John was likely written between A.
D. 90 and A. D. 110.